Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/75

 is not far to seek. The conquerors established their palaces, here and there, all over the country; and the luxury and immorality that were rampant there exercised their contaminating influence first on the upper and then, through these, on the lower classes, and, indeed, throughout Hindu society.

Another evil attending the Muhammadan supremacy was the aptitude of Hindus to flatter those in authority, and to practise deception for the furtherance of their own ends. Rich Hindus, by these means, ingratiated themselves into favour with the Emperor and the Nawabs under him, and thus they lost the truthfulness for which their ancestors had been famous. The lower classes received their lessons from the upper, and men were not ashamed publicly to violate truth. Again, if after this, there was anything wanting to make the deterioration complete, it was supplied by the policy the English followed in realising the rents due to them, and the spirit of setting truth at naught which their courts showed. It is said that these courts had no regard for actual facts, if they were not borne out by evidence. Truth was not esteemed by them in itself, but only when it was supported by witnesses. So the practice of suborning these soon prevailed. The violation of truth was soon followed by forgery, chicanery, bribery, and what not! It was this state of affairs in Hindu society that brought upon it Macaulay’s vituperation. It is not strange then that morality was at a low ebb at Krishnagar.

Ramtanu was born in the time of Raja Giris Chandra. The society of Krishnagar then was divided into three classes: First, the Rajas and their connections, who formed the most important section. Secondly, certain families of independent means, the heads of most of which, having received a good education in Persian, had gone on